It’s almost time for band camp for area marching bands. Many young musicians will be outside in the hot summer sun most of the day working on their drill and choreography. Here are items that will be useful for the kids during band camp.
Water Bottle. With those long hours outside, it’s so important to stay hydrated. A large, well insulated water bottle is a necessity.
Sunscreen and sunburn relief. Those rays can burn when they’re beating down on the field. Sunscreen will help prevent painful sunburns. Aloe is good for soothing sunburns, but so is hemorrhoid cream. Crazy, but it works!
Sun hat. It’s hard to see the drum major when it’s sunny out. A hat, be it a baseball cap or a brimmed hat will help on those bright days. Bonus, if it’s rainy, it’ll keep the raindrops out, too.
Sunglasses. It’s important to protect your eyes from the sun. These polarized sunglasses will protect the band members’ eyes from harmful UV rays.
Drawstring bag. There’s a lot of gear for band camp every day. A bag to keep it all together is so helpful to make sure that everything stays together and organized.
Lyre and flip folder. Learning to march and play music can be challenging. A lyre that attaches to the instrument with a flip folder to hold the music is helpful. Extra windows are also nice to have.
Woodwinds: Flute Clarinet, Saxophone
Brass: Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, Mellophone
Percussion: Drum
Binder. A marching band show takes tons of pages of drill. Usually, each chart shows the whole field with each dot representing a member of the band or guard. A binder is a great way to keep all of the charts handy and in order.
Sheet protectors. Throughout the season, those pages of drill are referenced quite a bit. Rather than punching holes and risking the pages tearing, clear sheet protectors will help the drill sheets survive the season intact.
Mini spiral notebooks. Each member is going to need a book to keep track of all of their charts with directions for choreography, counts, directions, etc. These are the perfect size to tuck into a pocket or hang from a lanyard.
Lanyard. Those chart books are going to need to be kept handy, at least until they’ve all been committed to memory. A lanyard clips easily to the spiral binding. Available in lots of colors!
Writing utensils. Between writing down drill in the chart books and making notes on the music, gonna need a pen or pencil. These cute pens also slide into the spiral binding of the chart books!
Spray paint or sidewalk chalk. Gotta mark those “dots!” Depending on the field, spray paint for grass or sidewalk chalk for asphalt, it’ll determine what’s needed to get the drill on the field. Remember to guide, not just look for the spot on the field.
Cooling towels. Not a necessity, per se, but kinda a cool, damp towel feels really nice on those sunny 90+ degree days.
Insulated lunch bag. It’s so nice to come in at lunch time and have a chilled sandwich. Unless there’s fridge access (or super awesome band boosters that provide lunch), a lunch bag that’ll keep things cold is important.
Band shirt. Not a must-have, but having a silly band themed shirt is just fun. Some marching bands even have show or program themed shirts. Show that band spirit!
Band stickers. Those band folders are usually pretty boring. Band themed stickers can be a fun band bonding activity and make those folders or chart books more personalized.
Last updated: August 6, 2023
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